Men’s Basketball: Schneiders Saves The Day

Concordia Defeats UQAM At Home, Creates Three-Way Tie for Second Place in Conference

The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team won their second straight game over the UQAM Citadins this past Saturday afternoon, with the score at 71-66 at the Concordia Gymnasium. Forward Schneiders Suffrard scored 24 points in the victory for Concordia, and also contributed three rebounds and three assists in the victory. Photo Nikolas Litzenberger

The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team won their second straight game over the UQAM Citadins this past Saturday afternoon, with the score at 71-66 at the Concordia Gymnasium. Photo Nikolas Litzenberger

Concordia Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic had a big smile on his face on Saturday evening as he prepared to answer questions post-game.

“Winning’s always better than losing, guys,” he told the reporters.

The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team won their second straight game over the UQAM Citadins this past Saturday afternoon, with the score at 71-66 at the Concordia Gymnasium. The win gives Concordia a 4-4 record on the season, tied with Laval and UQAM for second place in Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec.

Forward Schneiders Suffrard scored 24 points in the victory for Concordia, and also contributed three rebounds and three assists in the victory.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive because the coach told me I have to attack the basket,” said Suffrard. “I’m a skilled player so I can play outside and inside so it’s hard to match up on me.”

“He’s learning how to play,” said Popovic. “We’re working with him every single day on how to make sure he fits into what he want to do as a team and at the same time help him with how to achieve things he can achieve because he’s going to be a very good player.”

The Stingers held the lead for most of the game, but they ran into a scare in the third quarter when star forward Ken Beaulieu collided with an opponent. The left eye injury took him out of the game momentarily but he reentered in the fourth quarter. Not long after, the Citadins took the lead with a little over five minutes left in the fourth.

In spite of the challenges the Stingers encountered, Popovic admired his players for their resilience.

“I thought we played pretty well for most of the game,” said Popovic. “When Ken got hurt and we got into some foul trouble, I thought we gave up a few easy baskets but I’m very happy with how guys responded.”

On UQAM’s side, head coach Nate Philippe wasn’t completely pleased with his team offensively.

“The first half offensively we just put too much pressure on our defence,” he said. “[We were] missing shots we normally make, missing free throws we need to make.”

Phillippe also wasn’t happy with how indisciplined his team played, but tried to hold his tongue on how the referees dealt with fouls called against his team.

“We sent [Concordia] to the foul line too many times,” said Phillippe. “It seemed like Schneiders got fouled every time he touched the ball, but no comment on that.”

Meanwhile, the Stingers are already looking towards their back-to-back games at home, and across time, against the McGill Redmen next week. The last time these two teams played against each other, the Stingers lost 75-53 in McGill’s home court.

“I just want to beat them,” said Beaulieu. “I don’t care, I just want to beat them. The last time we went to McGill, it didn’t go well so I want to be them here, but I really want to beat them at McGill.”

“McGill is a tough team,” said Suffrard. “I know it’s going to be a war against them, a lot of physical contact, a lot of pushing, a lot of talking. That’s going to be a big game for us.”